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While
Kutch has acquired international fame foj its handicrafts, the Kathiawacl
peninsula too has historic tradition of producing high quality arts
an handicrafts. The finest of these handicra embellished the palaces,
mansions and darbargad of the Maharajahs, Nawabs and Kathi darbars
Saurashtra. Permission is required to visit th< properties of
the erstwhile ruling families, other than those that are heritage
hotels or museums.The heritage hotels of Gondal, near the heart
of Saurashtra, are decorated with beautiful beaclwork, silver and
brassware. The town of Gondal is known for its spinning, weaving,
woodwork, silverware and other handicrafts. Udyog Bharati is one
the centres promoting handloom woven textiles and the art of making
brass and wooden palara boxes. Further south from Gondal is Junagadh
where richly embroidered carpets, some of them encrusted with gems,
and other royal memorabilia, can be seen at the Darbarhall museum
in a converted palace. Rupayrattan at Junagadh is promoting applique
and other handicrafts of Saurashtra. The Junagadh museum has a memorable
collection of folk arts.
Enroute from Gondal to Junagadh, Jetpur is a textile town known
for its screen printing and yarn dyeing factories. A few^ block
printers still practise their intricate art at the printing units
of Jetpur. Screen and block printed textiles can be purchased at
retail outlets of the printing factories. Rajkot's Rashtriya shala,
opened by the city's erstwhile Rajput rulers, is promoting ikkat
weaving and other traditional textile techniques.
Like Junagadh, Gonclal and Rajkot, Bhavnagar was an important princely
city of Saurashtra, and has some living examples of the handiwork
that theorathi Rabari Patch Work. Junagadh District
royals used in their palaces and mansions. Sihore, near Bhavnagar,
has a metalware cottage industry7, Palitana has an embroidery market
and is a centre for making harmonium reeds, and Savarkundla for
weighing scales. South of Bhavnagar along the Gulf coast of Cambay
are the Koli villages, where embroidery is a traditional craft,
specially around Gopnath, and the town of Mahuva which enjoys a
rich reputation for wood crafts. Cottage industries like the ceramics
of Morvi, Rajkot and Than, and clock assembly at Morvi, thrive in
Saurashtra.
Jamnagar is well known for its high quality Fabrics Dr\ on the Banks
of River Sabarmati. Ahmedabad
Banclhini tie-and-dye. Like Kutch. Kathiawad too has a long traditional
of embroidery ranging from Bhopa Rabari embroidery along the Gulf
of Kachch to Koli embroidery along the Gulf of Cambay. Handicrafts
the world over are endangered by mechanisation and the electronic
era, but as long as a Gujarati bride covets her Patola, the Bharwad
men wear brightly embroidered clothes to attract pote entail briders
at the Tarnetar fair, and potters make tribal horses, Gujarat wiill
be a paradise for traditional textile and folk art connoissuers.
While
Kutch has acquired international fame foj its handicrafts, the Kathiawacl
peninsula too has historic tradition of producing high quality arts
an handicrafts. The finest of these handicra embellished the palaces,
mansions and darbargad of the Maharajahs, Nawabs and Kathi darbars
Saurashtra. Permission is required to visit th< properties of
the erstwhile ruling families, other than those that are heritage
hotels or museums.The heritage hotels of Gondal, near the heart
of Saurashtra, are decorated with beautiful beaclwork, silver and
brassware. The town of Gondal is known for its spinning, weaving,
woodwork, silverware and other handicrafts. Udyog Bharati is one
the centres promoting handloom woven textiles and the art of making
brass and wooden palara boxes. Further south from Gondal is Junagadh
where richly embroidered carpets, some of them encrusted with gems,
and other royal memorabilia, can be seen at the Darbarhall museum
in a converted palace. Rupayrattan at Junagadh is promoting applique
and other handicrafts of Saurashtra. The Junagadh museum has a memorable
collection of folk arts. 
